The week in re(ar)view

Oh dear oh my
The future seems bleak and not because of the smog. Some of the most promising businesses in our country are being hit hard. The country's poultry industry has incurred a loss of over Tk 4,100 crore over the last one year due to chicken sneezing in public.

Meter reading is apparently a way to make tons of money as long as no one knows. To prevent people from getting rich this way, Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Ltd is planning to abolish about 200 posts of meter readers and supervisors following discovery of large-scale corruption in the organisation.

Meter readers were paid roughly 4000 taka a month and were not expected to be filthy rich with it. They were just expected to be filthy.

Now, engineers would be tasked with the meter-reading job, engineers who may get rich quick.

River erosion eats into Bangladesh territory
We are a small country as it is. And we are continually shrinking due to erosion in the rivers bordering with India and Myanmar.

According to government accounts, the country has already lost more than 15,000 hectares of land due to erosion caused by 10 common rivers at 29 points with India and one with Myanmar.

Soon there will be a time when there is no land left for people to stand upon. And when the ground breaks people will wash away to the other side. Question is, will the bordering nations be as willing to take in our people as they are willing to accept the soil?

Dead and clucking
There used to be a time when you would eat something dubious with 'chicken' attached to the name and think, 'Hmm, this tastes like chicken.' But a nagging feeling usually in the stomach) would tell you otherwise. Now, when something you eat tastes like chicken, it probably is but you may wish it isn't.

Chickens about to die from diseases are hurriedly slaughtered and hung up for sale at city markets. Prime customers are makeshift roadside diners, street vendors of cooked food and caterers who deliver food to offices or messes for the low-income group, said a few poultry traders seeking anonymity.

Eggs bad, eggs good
Many private hospitals in the capital have stopped feeding their patients chicken and eggs amid growing fears over bird flu outbreak, although the health experts say there is no risk if these are cooked properly.

Health specialists dismissed any possibility of contracting the disease through consumption, if chicken and eggs are cooked at higher than 70 degrees Celsius temperature.

BTTB signs back-up optical fibre deal
Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) signed a Tk 18 crore deal with Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) for installation of a back-up optical fibre network between Dhaka and Cox's Bazar to ensure better access to the submarine cable system.

The three-year deal will now ensure an uninterrupted Internet service if someone cuts it again. We wonder if it will actually work. We are not saying anyone actually cut it but we are curious.

India to supply 20,000 MT more rice
We live on rice. We eat it day and night. We use it as a political party symbol. We shoot movies with heroines running through rice fields. We have heroines who look like sacks of rice. So it's hard when we run short of it.

We are getting 20,000 tonnes of paraboiled rice worth Rs 30 crore from India under its humanitarian assistance programme. It's sad because apparently we have enough fields, farmers and the essentials to supply ourselves till we all look sack of, you guessed it, rice.

By Gokhra and Mood Dude

DISA Girls' Basketball Tournament 2008

Shooting hoops in jerseys and shorts may not be the most feminine or romantic way to spend Valentines. But for the aspiring WNBA players (teeny-bit exaggeration) of Dhaka and even Chittagong the dreamy AIS/D atmosphere and the love of the sport was incentive enough to be on court for the Dhaka International School Association (DISA) Girls' Basketball Tournament 2008, which took place between the 14th-16th of February. AIS/D (Silver and Black), ISD, Scholastica, Aga Khan, Green Herald, William Carrey Academy (WCA) and Wildcats (huh..?!) were the teams who had this rare opportunity to polish their rusting basketball skills through this tournament.

Amidst all these school teams the last name appears to be the odd one out. Well that is because this is the only private Girls' Basketball team in Bangladesh coming into existence due to the initiative of two players (Refath Ali and Farin Fazle) and the support of a National Sports Council official Mizanur Rahman. Like the previous years' DISA tourney, AISD Gymnasium is where this team is seen once again.

Institutions were divided into two groups within which all teams had the opportunity of playing against each other. From one group Scholastica, the champions of the recent Aga Khan tournament emerged as the unbeaten Group Champs while ISD, a relatively new team was the runners-up. From the other lot, Wildcats came out as the Group Champs and WCA held the second spot. After battling it out in the semis the teams to qualify for the finals were Scholastica (28-18 against William Carrey) and Wildcats (39-20 against ISD)

The bleachers were quite full with supporters from Scholastica ISD and AISD for the final match where for the first time in several years both the teams were Bangladeshi teams. It was an interesting game in the sense that it allowed a direct comparison between 'set game' where specific tactics are employed and instinctive game plan. While Wildcats opted for the former type, using post players and taking an initial six point lead, Scholastica's phenomenal three point shooters were quick to narrow down the difference. However in the end the slow and safe approach used by Wildcats proved more effective than Scholastica's extraordinary yet inconsistent performance and this new team secured the Champion title of DISA 2008 with a score of 35 against 23.

While basketball in Bangladesh is still a relatively new sport (even more so for women) over the years Girls' Basketball teams have gained considerable exposure and experience through tournaments organized by schools and corporations due to which club teams are seen to emerge. However the standard still has along way to go to even match up to our neighbour India, but it is a possibility. And if that happens it certainly will speak volumes on women emancipation in Bangladesh.

By Midnight Maiden

Jerry Seinfeld
"Men want the same thing from their underwear that they want from women: a little bit of support, and a little bit of freedom."
or,
"I was the best man at the wedding. If I'm the best man, why is she marrying him? " or,

"It's amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper. "

Snapshots
Before the show was set to air, Jerry Seinfeld asked Jason Alexander what he thought their chances for success were. Alexander said he thought they "didn't have a chance." When asked why, Alexander responded, "Because the audience for this show is me, and I don't watch TV."

In the very first episode, the first conversation was between George and Jerry about a button. In the very last episode, when they were sitting in jail, the last conversation they had was the same thing about the button.

Rowan Atkinson.
"I, on the other hand, am a fully-rounded human being, with a degree from the University of Life, a diploma from the School of Hard Knocks, and three gold stars from the Kindergarten of Getting the Shit Kicked Out of Me”

"Quite a nasty piece of work. Not the sort of person you'd want to have dinner with.”

Rowan Atkinson.
Rowan Atkinson's good friend Stephen Fry, in his best man's speech at Rowan Atkinson's wedding , said about him:

"It is as if god had an extra jar of comic talent and, for a joke, gave it to a nerdy, anoraked northern chemist."

Compiled by Adnan Quadri

Night

When the earth is covered with blanket of darkness, when the earth submerges in the sublime meditation of silence, the existence plunges into the ecstatic primitive symphonies! What a lengthy wait for the day break! The veins turn in to the ocean of raging blood! Night matures! The ocean swells up with devastating surge to swallow down everything! Soon the distance shrinks. Time stops! A hurricane plays its havoc! Plurality explodes into singularity through the chaos of a cosmic big bang of sweat, flesh and blood! Gliding through a miry tunnel the transcendental ecstasy reaches to an end. The whole world lies in an eternal peaceful rest!

By Payel
Dhaka

Inspiration
There was a little boy who liked magic. On the first spring day, he went to a magic show. He was surprised to watch the magic. The show was over and on the way back home, the boy felt it would be great if knew magic! But he did not know any magic. On the way home, he saw an apple tree. He climbed up the tree. He found an apple flower there. He saw that slowly it became a small apple. He waited on the tree to see what happen next. He saw the little apple grew bigger and Red. He was very much surprised. He saw a nest of bird in the same tree. In the nest, there were some eggs. Mother bird was looking at the eggs. Suddenly the eggs were broken and chicks came out. The boy was amazed to see all these. Soon he understood that the nature's magic is the best magic which keep our life go on for the future. Thus he realized that he does not need to learn any magic or try to show it because nature has its own magic which is the real inspiration!

By S.M.Afnan Razzaque
Age 8

Having courage

I believe I'm brave,
I believe I'm have the courage,
To cross all bounds,
To do the undone.

But I wonder,
If I had to give a test,
Would I be able to sacrifice my life?
Leave my parents behind?

No matter what I say,
The truth is that:
I am not that brave,
Not at all that strong.

So today, I'd like to salute
The departed souls,
Who have fought and won,
The language that is ours forever,
Our beautiful mother tongue “Bangla”.

By Nayeema Reza